Healing Powers of Medical Qigong especially for seniors & those challenged with trauma from stroke and cancer. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Acupuncture, Chinese Herbs, Ancient Medical Tattooing & Yang Sheng, Nature Art & Music. Blogging about how to grow, obtain & create your survival medicine supply.
Mangrove Buckeye & Monarch Frolicking in the Yaupon Holly. I love the color and texture of Yaupon Holly, Ilex vomitoria. The surreal grey & white hues always light up the dark organic understory of many of Florida's native ecosystems. Yaupon holly's leaves are special as they contain several beneficial alkaloids, including caffeine and can be roasted to make a pick-me-up beverage. Yaupon tea/coffee is actually becoming more and more popular today and I see the leaves offered in a variety of establishments. Yaupon's berries provide food to so many different birds and it's quasi-thorny stem habit creates preferred safehaven for hummingbirds to nest within. This piece is 2" thick Eastern Red Cedar I etch-burned with torch, adding oil pigment afterwards. The blue seepage stream is resin poured into voids in the roughsawn slab. 12" x 15" x 2"
I love the ocean breeze, even the stormy days as long as they are not too terribly blowy. Here's my fun "Catch the Coccoloba Leaves If You Can" (Storm's-a-Brewing) piece. Florida nature is so healing! #Sarasota #Florida #Seagrapes
17" x 16" x 2" live edge Eastern Red cedar slab (Juniperus virginiana). This piece is number 3 of 6 pieces in the Discovering Florida Seep Head Bog collection set. Fire torch, oil pigment & resin. Florida native plants & wildflowers included in this piece are; fruiting Yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria), Flowering White Topped Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia leucophylla), Bog Buttons ( Lachnocaulon anceps), Florida cooters, (Pseudemys floridana floridana), Bidens mitis (Small fruit beggarticks), Saw palmetto (Serenoa repens), Xyris floridana (Florida yellow-eyed grass), Marsh rosegentian (Sabatia dodecandra), Eastern Tiger Swallowtails Papilio glaucus
Florida Native Bog Plants 7 the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
17" x 15" x 2" live edge Eastern Red cedar slab (Juniperus virginiana). This piece is number 2 of 6 pieces in the Discovering Florida Seep Head Bog collection set. Fire torch, oil pigment & resin.
Oil, fire & resin on Eastern Red Cedar #2 of 6, 15" x 17" x 2"
Florida native plants & wildflowers included in this piece are; fruiting Yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria), White Topped Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia leucophylla), Bog Buttons ( Lachnocaulon anceps), Florida cooters, (Pseudemys floridana floridana), Bidens mitis (Small fruit beggarticks), Saw palmetto (Serenoa repens), Xyris floridana (Florida yellow-eyed grass), Marsh rosegentian (Sabatia dodecandra), Mama Mockingbird with eggs - which really are often bright speckled blue- (Mimus polyglottus).
When in studio inspirations from years of swamp & forest exploration envelope me and I am transported to the most remote areas of our native ecosystems where the art becomes reality. This is the real place called heaven.
I was inspired to pen several short verse poems for Wednesday tonight.
The first is about a nana & a garden bloom:
Solitude fed grandmother's heavy heart laughter's echo now silent today a solitary wildflower in her unkempt garden soft smile curved her lips and she whispered a joyful word
...
Joys of a Wildflower
And the second, a neo-haiku about a happy wren bathing in the creek:
Joyous Wren Splashing in the Creek
In babbling creek wren does dance in ecstasy water's glee cool song
Spending time in forests can greatly inspire an artist looking to create native plant artwork, offering them an opportunity to explore and understand the intricate beauty of nature in its purest form.
Nature Art, Finding Inspiration In the Forests and Swamps
Below are some of my thoughts about the many ways how a forest could serve as a wonderful resource for any artist but especially a native plant artist:
Observation and Realism: The first and foremost benefit of being in a forest is the opportunity to observe native plants in their natural habitats. The artist can study their forms, colors, and textures in detail. This direct observation can lead to more realistic and accurate representations in the artwork.
Seasonal Changes: A forest presents an ever-changing tableau as the seasons shift, offering a range of different visuals from fresh spring blossoms to autumn foliage. The artist can depict the lifecycle of the plants or create a series of artwork illustrating these transitions.
Connection with Nature: Immersion in a forest allows the artist to develop a deep, personal connection with nature. This emotional bond could be reflected in the artwork, creating pieces that not only depict the physical aspects of the plants but also the artist's feelings towards them.
Understanding Ecosystems: A forest provides a unique opportunity to understand the interdependence of various life forms. By noticing how plants interact with other elements of the forest, such as animals and weather, the artist could incorporate these aspects into the artwork, making it richer and more complex.
Inspiration and Creativity: The serenity and beauty of a forest can stimulate an artist's creativity. The variations in landscapes, the play of light and shadow, the myriad colors, shapes, and textures, all contribute to an array of visual stimuli that can trigger new ideas and approaches to the artwork.
Symbolism: Plants in a forest can carry a wealth of symbolism, often tied to cultural or spiritual beliefs. An artist may choose to incorporate these symbolic meanings into their artwork, adding layers of depth and interpretation to their pieces.
Learning Different Perspectives: Spending time in a forest can lead an artist to see things from different perspectives. They might find beauty in the understory that many overlook, or see the towering majesty of old-growth trees. Each new perspective provides fresh inspiration for artwork.
Healing & Health: I can speak from first hand experience here as to just how spending time in the wilds has redirected my mind from dwelling on my physical challenges and instead allowing me the opportunity to instead see the beauty of the natural world around me. Fresh air, sunshine, earth colors & hues, wildlife sounds, bird calls, all these help me breathe deeper and feel more whole. When I feel uplifted physically then my mind is ready to create art.
So, spending time in forests allows me to develop a deeper understanding of the natural world, fostering creativity and providing endless inspiration for my native plant artwork. Through direct observation and immersion in nature, we artists can create pieces that are not only visually stunning but also imbued with a sense of authenticity and emotional depth.
Callicarpa americana cuttings after one month. Beautyberry is an extremely important integrated pest management #ipm #nativeplants team member here. Mosquitoes & pests flee BB. #floridahemp #hemp #850hemp #arendellhillnursery #freshfromflorida https://t.co/WN08aq6tCB
The old live oak log has long been resting on the ground after hundreds of years reaching out, up to the sky. As the log decomposes, numerous insects, plants, bacteria and lichens make their home inside the log. This ten minute audio is of insects, most likely termites and beetles, as they create their own ecosystem inside the log. Copper probes with piezo microphones, Sony PCM m10 recorder.
This audio is an hour clip of the nighttime calls of many different species of frogs living in a shallow, freshwater coastal pond in Northern Florida.
Here is the link to the audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxGYzO7fmrU&t=1101s
I find these calls to be relaxing and calming, bringing back memories of my childhood when I'd spend the night with my grandparents in their Spanish style stucco house near the everglades in Miami.
With the large windows wide open, the nighttime calls and conversations of the many frogs living in the dense vegetation echoed into the bedroom.
Today listening to these frog calls I am transported back to a treasured period in my childhood, a period full of nature's healing.
Pre-sunrise audio when the birds, waterfowl, alligators and frogs are waking to a light but audible drizzle. Birds include kingfisher's shrill call, herons, moorhen's eerie notes, owls, red winged blackbirds, starlings, cormorants and more.
The recorder is placed interior to a large evergreen wax myrtle shrub growing along the bank.
Interestingly the wake up process is paced.
You will hear the moorhens and other birds take flight across the pond during the thirty minute plus audio. The moorhens are the stars of the audio with their far ranging vocals (especially when they join in vocal unison as in five and a half minutes into the clip).
Twenty five and a half minutes into the video an alligator attempts a grab at one of the birds, causing a noticeable ruckus.
This audio clip is a portion of the overnight recording session along the pond's edge.
Audio capture and sharing is part of my nature-based healing therapy for my ailments and working with the audio art aspect has really expanded my appreciation of nature's complex multi-dimensionality. The visual arts have always been important to me yet I find my combining both audio and visual with a focus on each individually, has allowed me to see nature in ways I could not have previously imagined. Today nature sounds actually paint visual art in my mind. Before I sometimes just ignored the cries, calls and sounds. Now, instead of hearing a high shrill I hear and see the kingfishers as they dart speedily across the surface.
Enjoy the NFT image too, the neo-realistic Moorhen art piece featured as the audio cover.
Sony PCM in a waterproof bag with mini stereo microphones protected by good windshields.
I am so happy to be able to experience audio art along with my native plant and ecosystem art. Nature sounds are an exciting door to enter through and explore the mysteries of the cosmos.
This recording was completed with my recorder placed inside a shoreline wax myrtle (Morella cerifera). Wax myrtle is an excellent place to record nature sounds from within as the canopy and branch architecture create amazing sound wave resonance. The waxy leaves also help shield the recorder and microphones from the rain and weather while hiding the unit too. Though this audio is all about a freshwater marsh pond waking in the wee morning hours, it speaks volumes about the wax myrtle bush in which the recorder did its overnight work. What I am beginning to see as I continue my journey into nature audio is that the cosmos around me in nature are actually much more dimensionally complex than two or three dimensions.
This bird bioacoustics video is about Nuthatch, Sitta spp., feeding time in the nest. As with other newly hatched birds, the nuthatch babies are quiet until they recognize a parent, usually by the parent's call.
Here both parents are actively foraging for food and returning to the nest every minute or two, even though a storm is approaching, to feed their young. You will recognize the parent's call as they enter the nest cavity then hear the high pitch hunger squeal of the newborns.
I find it interesting that the baby nuthatches are instinctively quiet until they recognize their parent's call, and/or the shadow of the parent entering the next cavity although a response to a shadow could also be fatal as a shadow could be a predator too.
Lom MikroUsi microphones with a Sony PCM M10 and a waterproof drop bag. Microphones placed in the nest perimeter, away from babies but in the area of the parent bird's activity - hence the 'bumps'.
The native azalea's leaf cover is minimal, so audio from wind, rain and thunder would be significant.
Unlike the Southern Magnolia rainstorm, the native azalea does not offer much cover from the storm.
Sounds of weather events vary when recorded under different plant canopies and offer insights to how ecosystems integrate and how wildlife may respond accordingly.
Following up on my previous pre-midnight frog call recording adjacent a brackish sawgrass dominated shoreline with saltbush and wax myrtle thickets up from the water's edge, here is an hour audio clip from shortly after midnight to just after 1 AM.
I found a couple of observations to be of interest, including;
the frogs seemed to be consistently louder and more vocal this night just after midnight,
their vocalizations occurred in regular two to three minute interval rising and falling crescendos,
and a number of different species were participating in the chorus.
The wax myrtle thicket provided a unique platform to record ambiance from within. Sony recorder, LOM MikroUsi microphones, windbubbles and waterproof drop bag.
I posted an audio/video of lagoon night frog calls yesterday. This clip is actually the first part (late afternoon) of the frog calls clip.
I set up the recorder to capture the sound of shoreline winds blowing through the wax myrtle thicket. Wax myrtle, Morella cerifera, is one of my all time favorite native plants, providing food, fiber, habitat and medicine to animals and humans alike. On this audio you will hear the late afternoon steady coastal breeze rustling through the fragrant wax myrtle leaves.
Twenty three minutes into the recording the winds become more varied and frogs begin to call as do doves. For a varied listening experience move the video/audio indicator to half way through the timeline.
Here is the link if the YouTube video/audio does not function: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awez30KTDy0
Two different bioacoustic perspectives are shared in this post. The first is a short audio clip of bees buzzing around springtime Ilex opaca holly flowers captured with omni stereo microphones, or what us humans might hear if we stood close enough and still enough.
The second video is made using a set of piezo microphones attached directly to the American holly flowers so as to capture the vibrations experienced by the native plant when bees fly into their open blooms, roughly foraging for nectar and pollen.
The piezo microphones in the second video are constructed with alligator clips fastened directly to the piezo disk. This contact microphone arrangement allows for us to experience the vibrations flowing through the flowers into the plant stems. These vibrations are more consistent with what the holly is experiencing than the first video shared above where soundwaves travelling through the are are captured by the recorder. I always find it interesting to put myself in the place of the native plants with respect to life experiences.
Learning to examine nature from perspectives other than those normal avenues I am used to has helped me see a much more encompassing and larger picture of the world we live in. This in turn keeps my mind 'flexible' and open to learning.
Field recording too helps heal my constant health challenges including PTSD and stress. Field recording gets me out in nature where I breath in fresh air, get exercise and absorb vitamin D.
Both of these recordings were made with a Sony PCM. The microphones were a pair of DIY piezo disks and then a set of Clippy 272s. Windshields were not used on the piezos but were used on the Clippys.
It is always good to examine even the most routine of life events from other's perspectives. Finally, nature art is amazing.
